The built-in Script Editor and Terminal can be opened by clicking "Scripting Terminal & Editor..." in the "Tools" menu. It allows you to:
Create, view and edit Lua, text, and XML files.
Evaluate scripts or commands in realtime using the Terminal.
Watch any scripts output in the Terminal. For example: all "print"s and errors from scripts will be redirected here
Note: 'Command' below is the Control key on Windows & Linux, Command on OSX.
To enter multiple lines in the terminal, end a line with a \ The terminal will then prompt for another line until you hit enter twice
oprint(some_object)
prints out info about a Lua class object:
try for example oprint(renoise.song())
to see all properties
and methods for song(). To list all available modules, try rprint(renoise)
or rprint(_G)
Take a look at the example tools in the 'Resource Scripts' node on the left for a detailed description of a tool script's layout
If you just want to test out some code without writing a 'tool', create a new script file in the 'Scripts' folder and not in the 'Scripts/Tools' folder. Such Scripts can then be launched by hitting the 'Run Script' button or via 'Command + R'. A default file called 'TestPad.lua' should already be present which you can use for testing.
The full Renoise API reference is included in the left tree view as well, in case you want to lookup something without leaving Renoise